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With two kids now in grade school, I am finding myself packing lunchboxes on a regular basis. Over the past few years, I’ve learned a few tips and tricks for simplifying this somewhat overwhelming task and wanted to share them with you in hopes that it will simplify your life and open up space for you to focus on other priorities.

So, let’s jump right in!

1.       Do not over complicate it!

For some reason, us overachievers like to make lunchbox packing WAAAAAY more complicated than it really needs to be. Simply choose 1-2 menus that you will serve for the week. It helps if you include your children in this discussion. This increases the likelihood that they will eat what you serve (since they chose it) and means that you won’t be wasting money (or time preparing) food that they don’t enjoy.

 This is not to say that you should give them free-reign over food choice. Children will naturally gravitate towards sweet or salty junk food. Give them options but be sure that you’re giving them nutritious options. Research has shown that children have to try foods between 6 and 15 times before they can truly decide whether they like a food or not. That being said, I don’t think the lunchbox is the appropriate place to introduce new foods. It’s unlikely that they will try them at school without you there to encourage it. Our approach has been to keep lunches familiar and to introduce new foods, flavors, and textures at dinner.

2.       Make use of a thermos.

Having a thermos opens up so many more options for the lunchbox because it means that you’re not limited to cold food. My kids enjoy taking a variety of soups, spaghetti, or even leftovers in their lunches. If you do choose to use a thermos, I suggest warming the food in the microwave for a little longer that you normally would for your child. The thermos does a good job keeping things warm, but it will gradually cool off.

Some of our favorite soup recipes are:

o   Chicken Noodle Soup – to make this quicker, I will purchase shredded chicken from the deli. Alternatively, I’ve used a rotisserie chicken too.

o   Tomato Soup

o   Black Bean Soup – I add cumin to this recipe to give it a bit more flavor.

o   Potato Leek Soup – While this isn’t a common dish in the US, my family loves the creamy mild flavor of this soup. Very kid friendly!

3.       Charcuterie board lunches are an easy and healthy option.

You might try different combinations of charcuterie boards in your lunchbox. It’s essentially a lunchable without the added sugars and sodium. Bento box style containers can be useful for these. Just be sure to get one that seals well to avoid any leaks from fruit juices. Nobody enjoys soggy crackers! I’ve also used sandwich baggies for this type of lunch because they make it easy to prepare ahead of time, you avoid leaks, and it’s super easy for your kid to clean up.

The way we approach charcuterie-style lunches is to choose a:

o   Meat/Protein

o   Grain (e.g., crackers, bread, etc.)

o   Cheese

o   Veggie

o   Fruit

o   Sweet (e.g., dark chocolate, caramel, etc.)

The possibilities are truly endless!

 4.       Make it personal but keep it simple.

We all know a mom who packs beautiful lunches for their children including cute or witty hand-written notes. If this is your love language and you enjoy writing those notes, then by all means continue doing it! However, if you’re like me and have the best of intentions but lack the time or mental capacity to consistently do this you might consider pre-made notes. These essentially include cute notes of encouragement and you just have to sign “Love, Mom”. There’s so many to choose from on Amazon if you search “lunchbox notes”. These make it possible to personalize your child’s lunch, send them a note of encouragement, and still keep it simple.

5.       Prep it all at the beginning of the week.

My final suggestion for mastering the lunchbox is to prep everything at the beginning of the week so that it’s grab and go (i.e., your kids can pack it themselves). In our family, this means that as soon as I get home on Sunday afternoon from the grocery store, the kids help me prep the different items for their lunches. This might involve washing, cutting, and bagging their fruit and veggies. Or maybe they help me make 2-3 sandwiches and put them in baggies. If I’m serving soup for lunch, we cook a giant pot of it on Sunday and then just have to warm up the right serving in the morning and pour it into the thermos. The more you can do on Sunday, the easier it is to pack lunches in the morning. I know for our family, anything we can do to simplify our morning routine before school is extremely helpful!

 I hope this post equips to you master your children’s lunchboxes with confidence!